Opinion: The Concept of Cro’s Consistency

September 28th, 201210:00 am

Brian Bassett , TheJetsBlog.com

With the new normal that the Jets are faced with this week, there’s been a lot of focus on Antonio Cromartie. What seemed to be mentioned time and again in the same breath as his play is a reference to “Cromartie’s inconsistency.” Really?

Let’s be clear, Antonio Cromartie is not Darrelle Revis. Even Cromartie himself agrees with that notion, but we’re getting the sense that some people are forgetting just where the team has come from.

The point is, let’s not be too hard on Cromartie. These are just a few of the previous starters that the Jets have put out over the last 20ish years and their abilities fluctuated wildly. If we want to talk about inconsistency, then let’s please have a conversation about David Barrett. Watching that guy play was like taking a roller coaster ride. Compared to Barrett, Cromartie is rock solid. One or two (even five) bad plays a game – at the cornerback spot under the modern rules restrictions that corners face is still pretty good.

Cromartie is not inconsistent, he’s a playmaker and will get burned here or there and he does work better when he’s not lining up against slot-type receivers, but on the whole, he’s pretty damn good. Even the best players at the corner spot around the league (Aso, Bailey, Flowers, etc.) are going to let up a few passes a game and Cromartie has done that … but he’s not a hot mess either. On the whole, Cro is pretty consistent … but when Darrelle Revis is lining up on the other side of the field, it’s easy to get spoiled and subjectively consider Cromartie “inconsistent” in comparison.